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€l)rist going forti) to purifg t\}t tDorlb: 



SERMON 



PREACHED BEPOBE THE 



FOREIGN EVANGELICAL SOCIETY, 

NEW YORK, MAY 7, 1848. 

/ 
BY EAT PALMEE, 

Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Albany. 



ALBANY : 

JOEL MUNSELL, 58 STATE STREET. 

185 L 



J^, 



,r3 






The following Discoui'se was delivered before 
the Foreign Evangelical Society, just as it was 
about to pass into The American and Foreign 
Christian Union. It was repeated at Newark, 
Brooklyn, Boston and some other places. The 
reasons which have delayed its publication, it is 
not necessary to state. It is now printed at the 
request of the Directors of the New Organization, 
which is efficiently pursuing the great work of 
evangelizing the Papal World. 



k 



SERMON. 



Whose fan is in his hand, and He will thoroughly purge his 
floor, and gather his wheat into the garner: but He will 
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. — Matth. hi, 12. 

It was in this forcible and graphic manner, that John 
the Baptist announced the presence and the purpose of 
Christ the great Purifier. The passage has been some- 
times understood, as merely setting forth the work of 
judgment which he was about to do in respect to the 
Jewish nation. Beyond a doubt, however, it has a 
wider sweep. We take it as a proclamation that the 
Son of God, like the fanner intent on the cleansing 
of the threshing floor, was then about to undertake the 
task, in a formal and official manner, of effecting a com- 
plete moral purification of the world. As the last and 
most enlightened of the prophets, John knew that the 
promised kingdom of Messiah was at that time to be set 
up ; and that it was thenceforward steadily to progress, 
till the blessed consummation should be reached, in 
which light should triumph over darkness, and good over 
evil among men. He also understood that although the 
reahzation of the splendid visions of the earlier prophets 
was not to be brought about by the immediate interposition 



6 

of almighty power, yet that Christ, as the Head and 
administrator of the new economy, should be the prime 
mover in the work. 

From that day to the present, the prediction has been 
in the process of fulfilment. The regeneration of the 
world, has, we beheve, been all the while advancing ; 
not indeed, without many impediments and a vigorous 
resistance. The great adversary of God and man, has 
done his best, both by fraud and force, to keep possession 
of his old domain. He has assailed the well-being of 
mankind at every vulnerable point ; he has had recourse 
to all modes of warfare and to every sort of weapons ; 
and he has, even, at times, seemed to have so greatly the 
advantage in the struggle, that his servants have ventured 
to begin to sound a triumph ; but in one way or another, 
it has happened again and again, that when he has been 
just ready to rejoice in the achievement of some imagined 
victory, he has been effectually baffled and overthrown. 
His mines have sprung beneath his own battalions. 
His forces have been routed by the recoil of his own ar- 
tillery. His troops have been set man against man 
among themselves, and thrown into inextricable confu- 
sion. In every great emergency, the Spirit of the Lord 
has lifted up a standard against him. 

But where are we now ? How far has the work ad- 
vanced ? In what stage of the purifying process have we 
our place and our duty ? This is a matter which it is of 
great moment that we should fully understand. If the 
day is drawing nigh, in which the nations shall rise to the 
hfe and purity and happiness to which divine Truth and 



divine Love is ultimately to bring them, v^e ought to know 
it for our encouragement. If it be true that, by the course 
of events in ages past, the v^^ay of the Lord has been pre- 
pared, and now at last the rallying for the final struggle 
has arrived, who would not rush to fill some post? Who 
would not feel his heart beating high with holy courage ? 
We fully believe that the last stage of the process of 
cleansing a world long sunk in the deep pollutions of 
the apostacy, is now reached. We beheve that it can 
now be said in a far more direct and emphatic sense 
than in the time of John, " His fan is in his hand, and he 
will thoroughly purge his floor.'' This cleansing work 
of Christ, however, will not be in respect to the manner 
of its accomplishment, like the quiet task of the fanner. 
On the contrary, it will doubtless involve the most vio- 
lent convulsions the world has ever seen. Even now 
we see all things in commotion. We see, as it were, 
the going forth of a mighty conqueror ; and we can not 
help asking with the prophet, " Who is this that cometh 
from Edom ? with dyed garments from Bosrah ? This 
that is glorious in his apparel, travehng in the greatness 
of his strength V'f Then we seem distinctly to hear the 
thrilhng answer : '• I that speak in righteousness mighty 
to save. The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the 
year of my redeemed is come !" Were it possible, we 
would write, in words of fire, before the eyes of all who 
look for the reign of God on earth, that with the resour- 
ces of infinite wisdom and almighty power, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, is now addressing himself directly 
TO the work of completing the moral cleansing 

OF the world. 



We must understand the past, or we can not under- 
stand the present. What has Christ done already, is 
necessarily preliminary to the question, What is he doing 
now. The work of purifying the world, on which the 
Forerunner saw him, when on earth, about to enter, 
necessarily supposed three stages or periods of develop- 
ment ; stages or periods clearly distinguishable, although 
not marked off by precise and definite lines, but rather 
running more or less into each other. We say that this 
arrangement was a matter of necessity ; because it was 
not by the immediate power of God, but by an instru- 
mental, and in some sense, natural growth, that the 
divine kingdom was to rise. Such was the divine pur- 
pose from the beginning.. 

I. We may characterize the first stage of the purify- 
ing process as the initiative or introductory stage. First 
of all, the cleansing fountain was to be opened in the 
blood of the dying Lamb of God. The Cross was to be 
set up 3S the source of a mighty moral power. The 
promise of the Holy Ghost, was to be fulfilled, and his 
mission to be opened in a signal manner. The Gospel 
also, was to be written, and to be preached among all 
the accessible nations ; and by the gathering of churches 
and the estabhshment of Christian ordinances the kingdom 
of God was to receive a visible, organic form. All this 
was shortly done. From Calvary the word of life went 
forth ; and the leaven of saving truth was soon infused 
into the dark and corrupting masses of mankind. We 
need not say with what results. We need not stay to 
speak of the simplicity and power of primitive piety ; 



nor to recount the victories of Christian truth in its first 
collision with the systems and the principles of error. It 
is enough to say, in passing, that in this introductory 
period of Christianity, everything was accomplished 
which the nature of the case admitted. The first onset 
was a victory ; so far as a victory was possible in the 
circumstances of the times. The "noble army of the 
martyrs" furnished an admirable demonstration of the 
power of the Gospel to call forth the highest type of 
human character ; and the deserted temples of idolatry 
bore a reluctant, but emphatic testimony, to the vital 
energy of Christian doctrine. The work of moral trans- 
formation was thus efficiently begun. 

11. The second stage of the work of the Son of God 
in the purification of the world, we may fitly call the 
experimental stage. This part of the process, as we 
understand the matter, has been steadily going forward 
from the days of Constantine, and even earlier, down to 
the present time. The course of divine Providence 
through this long period, as respects its bearing on the 
spiritual enlightenment and elevation of mankind in the 
final triumph of the Gospel, has perhaps not been suffi- 
ciently considered. It is too commonly the impression 
in glancing towards the past, that while these tedious 
centuries were passing over a groaning world, the work 
of regenerating humanity was stationary, or even retro- 
grade. We can not beheve this for a moment. We 
can not admit the thought that Jesus Christ has ever 
ceased to prosecute the purifying work to the commence- 

2 



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ment of which He put his hand when he dwelt below. 
We are by no means of the number who adopt the 
notion that the dark ages were really not dark at all ; 
but rather were the golden ages of human history. But 
dark as they were, corrupt and wretched as in many 
respects they were, profound as was the intellectual 
slumber in which they wrapped the masses, we yet claim 
confidentially the entire period, from the days of the 
decline of primitive piety, to the days of modern revival, 
as a period of steady progress to God's kingdom among- 
men. Our meaning is, that there were certain experi- 
ments which it was a matter of necessity, in the absence 
of miraculous interpositions, that humanity should be 
left to try, before it could fully and universally come 
under the dominion of the simple truth of God ; and that 
the divine Purifier, in his wise administration, has appro- 
priated this period chiefly to the working out of these 
experiments. This view strikes us as having most im- 
portant bearings on the present and the future ; we will 
therefore give it some little illustration. 

In the first place, it was inevitable that Philosophy 
should thoroughly try her speculative acuteness, in the 
attempt to harmonize the truths of revealed religion 
with her own estsblished formulas. This would naturally 
follow from the fact that Christianity assumed to speak 
dogmatically and with authority, on many of the chief 
questions on which speculative reason has been wont to 
try its acuteness and its insight. It was not to be ima- 
gined that Philosophy, not now in her infancy but deve- 
loped into a vigorous maturity, would humbly acquiesce 



H 

in this assumption and quietly abandon the field of 
abstruse inquiry. She had imbibed her spirit, settled her 
canons and elaborated her systems, under the influence 
or at least within the atmosphere, of sensual Paganism ; 
and priding herself on the renown of her Sages and her 
Schools, she was so puffed up with the conceit of wisdom, 
that if she gave heed to Christianity at all, it could only 
be in a patronizing way; as if she would kindly lend her 
liglit to render it intelligible to the world. The Plato- 
nizing Fathers of the Church, led off in the attempt to test 
the facts revealed to faith in the philosophic crucible. 
Then followed the long array of the Schoolmen, with 
their dialectics and subtile and interminable refinements ; 
and by them the process was carried on. Modern meta- 
physicians have apparently well nigh completed the 
curriculum of the possible, in the variously modified sys- 
tems of Pantheistic Transcendentalism. 

It was necessary, again, that the Hierarchical experi- 
ment should be made ; that it should be shown by actual 
trial, what would be the fruits of priestly domination ; of 
the subjection of the human mind to the necessity of a 
blind and unquestioning submission to authority in mat- 
ters pertaining to the conscience. Those who were the 
constituted teachers in the church, whose official position 
at once required them to surpass others in their know- 
ledge of divine truth and entitled them to speak with 
some measure of authority, could not but have it in their 
power, especially in their ministrations to the ignorant, 
to exert an influence which should be well nigh decisive. 
It would often seem to be really best that there should 



12 

be an unhesitating submission to their superior wisdom, 
on the part of those who were wanting in the capacity or 
the means of examining for themselves. How easily 
then, as human nature is, would even the most upright 
and pious religious instructors, without the light of expe- 
rience on the subject, convince themselves that they 
might rightfully assume to control the faith and the con- 
sciences of others ! How difficult would be the task to 
those who were in the place of learners, of determining 
beforehand what would be the consequences of implicit 
subjection to authority, the giving up of the right of pri- 
vate judgment ! Of this problem, the self styled succes- 
sors of Saint Peter have wrought out an ample solution 
in the sight of all men. The voluminous records of 
Papal abominations, written in the tears and blood of 
milhons, and made up at some periods of but little else 
than exhibitions of debasing ignorance and cruel super- 
stition, detail the results in all their dark particulars. 

It was also necessary that the light of experience should 
be thrown upon the question of Religious Seclusion, 
as a means of a highly spiritual life. The Gospel came 
demanding entire devotion to God. It insisted on self- 
discipline, the mortification of the appetites and passions, 
deadness to the world, and a holy delight in God and in 
spiritual things. It urged the duties of watchfulness, 
prayer and meditation on divine truth; and promised 
great rewards to those who should gain the victory over 
the world by faith. It was the most natural thing ima- 
ginable that minds of a contemplative and quiet habit, 
being constitutionally disposed to seek retirement from 



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the noisy world, should fancy such 'a state to be emi- 
nently favorable to a devout and holy hfe. Asceticism 
had existed too, before the promulgation of Christianity ; 
and so had a traditional sanction to recommend it. The 
early Anchorites, w^ho obtained such renown for sanctity 
in the deserts of Egypt, and the mountain fastnesses of 
Palestine, while as yet Christianity was comparatively 
pure; and the numerous monastic orders of later and 
corrupter ages, have made full trial in this matter, and 
the result is clear. It has been shown that holy principle 
and affection can be effectually and happily developed 
only in connection with a life of benevolent activity, and 
in direct contact with the world. 

It was necessary further, that the consequences of an 
alUance between the Formal and Artistic on the one hand, 
and the purely Spiritual on the other, should be demon- 
strated by experiment. There is a natural affinity be- 
tween the beautiful and the good. The disposition of 
the mind to connect them in its associations, would lead 
of course to a desire and effort to combine taste and piety, 
so far as might be practicable. But how far this might 
be effected; to what extent the one might usefully be 
made the ally of the other ; and at what point the danger 
would arise that the beauty of form and sense would fix 
attention on itself to the prejudice of the higher attractions 
of the spiritual and divine ; all this it was difficult before- 
hand to determine. Between the art and the religion of 
Pagan Antiquity, there had been a complete alhance ; so 
that the one was, as it were, the embodiment of the other 
and it was not unnatural to think that a similar alliance 



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might exist when Christianity prevailed. Papal Rome 
inherited the treasures of art which had survived the 
ruins of the Empire ; and thus became the centre and 
school of taste to the civilized world. When, therefore, 
she grew into prosperity, and surrounded herself with 
the means of luxury and splendor, she reared her vast 
Cathedrals, and set up her jeweled altars, and employed 
the pencil and the chisel to add to the enchantment of 
her worship ; and combining with the whole the magic 
power of music and the dazzhng show of imposing pomps 
and ceremonies, she has supplied a demonstration as 
complete as it is instructive. 

It was necessary likewise, that there should be a fair 
experiment of the practical working of a union between 
the Spiritual and the Temporal, the connection of Church 
and State. The Romish Church, in the ages of her entire 
ascendancy, rendered this union so universal and com- 
plete among the states of Christendom, and perpetuated it 
so long, that even Protestantism has found it difficult to 
escape from the entanglement. There has been ample 
time for the unfolding of the tendencies of this unnatural 
and adulterous conjunction. The nionstrous evils which 
have been its offspring, are fast engaging the attention 
and arousing the indignation of the world ; and loud 
and determined voices are now lifted up demanding a 
divorce ; voices which will never be hushed again till a 
divorce is finally accomplished. 

It was necessary yet again, that Infidelity should have 
time to try every method of attack on the citadel of 
Christian truth, to the end that the impregnable strength 



15 

of its entrenchments might be seen. English Deism led 
on in this assault. Herbert and Tindal, Shaftsbury and 
Bolingbroke, Hume and Gibbon, were certainly no mean 
antagonists. They did all that eloquent, elaborate, inge- 
nious sophistry could do, but with no detriment to the 
stability of Revelation. The virtual Atheism of Voltaire, 
Rousseau and their associates in France, poured out from 
another quarter, the poisoned arrows of malignant ridi- 
cule and cutting satire, aided immensely by the intolerable 
abuses of the Romish Church.* Germany furnished the 
third and latest type. Rationahsm, with its coolness, its 
learning, and its iron diligence, has I'aked and sifted, and 
turned and overturned, till at last it has well nigh buried 
itself in its own accumulated rubbish, and is beginning 
to awake from its presumptuous dream. Strauss has 
nauseated it with its own elixir. 

And then, lastly, it was not less necessary that certain 
experiments should be made, illustrative of the true spirit 
and the practical efficacy of Christianity itself. It was 
important that an illustration should be given of the un- 
conquerable energy of Christian faith, in its calm and firm 
endurance of the fiercest persecutions, and its patient 
holding out through long and dark and agonizing days 
of trial. It was needful that proof should be supplied 
that Christianity possesses an indestructible vitality, a life 
which can survive all social revolutions and even the 

* See Voltaire's General History — Passim. One can not contemplate 
the picture of Christianity as it lay before his mind, in the unsightliness 
of its corruptions, without admitting that it does afford some show of 
apology for his rancorous hostility to the Gospel and its Author. 



16 

worst abuses in its own organization and discipline. It 
was to be shown, that it has an elastic force sufficient to 
enable it to heave from itself the crushing masses of old 
corruptions, and to evolve again spiritual life and light, 
from darkness and apparent death. It was to be made to 
appear quite certain, that Revelation has nothing to fear 
from the advancement of sound learning, and the disco- 
veries of sober science ; but on the contrary that these, 
in their progress, are to be her friendly and genial coad- 
jutors. There was an absolute necessity in the nature of 
the case, that these things should have the certainty of 
experimental demonstration. 

Now all these, and other similar experiments, are 
obviously an essential part of the purifying work of the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; and what we have called the experi- 
mental stage or period of this work, has, we believe, 
wrought them out in a thorough manner. And this 
especially we insist on, that these experiments are doubt- 
less final. They are not to be repeated. Philosophy, 
in its attempts to solve the higher problems of our being, 
has had its day. The Hierarchy in its assumed dominion 
over conscience, has had its day. The Cloister has had 
its day. The sensualism of Form and Art has had its 
day. The alhance of Church and State has had its day. 
Infidehty has had its day. Each has wrought out its 
appropriate results, and the great Purifier has now nearly 
or quite done with them all forever. While on the other 
hand, those experiments which have served to exhibit 
the true genius of Christianity, and to place its efficiency 
beyond all question, are to live in the memory of the 



17 

Church, to sustain her constancy and courage, and to 
warm her faith and hope into a holy and unquenchable 
enthusiasm. Here then is a great and essential work ac- 
complished. Not in vain have these fifteen centuries, in 
which there has been so much to the eye of sense that 
looked disheartening, passed over depressed and sorrow- 
ing humanity. Christ has not rested from his undertaking 
all the while. Not a day has been without its bearing 
on the grand result. 

III. We come now to speak of the third, and as we 
conceive the last stage in the purifying work of Christ. 
This we may characterize as distinctively the transform- 
ing stage ; as the period, in other words, in which the 
advances of humanity towards a purer and a happier state, 
are to be rapid, manifest and permanent. While the 
experimental period has been for some time drawing to 
a close, the opening of this final one has been apparent. 
Now it is felt by all men, at least by all who are 
attentive to the movements of the times, that a new era 
in human affairs has been commenced. By visible signs 
the Son of Man is coming. The brightness of his ap- 
proach is already seen streaking the retreating darkness 
of the past, with the blushes of the promised morning. 
Already is it plain, that the breath of his mouth is kindling 
up the unquenchable fires that shall consume the accumu- 
lated chaff of ages. The tide of purifying influence, has 
hitherto been not unlike a river flowing under ground ; 
but now at last we see it bursting forth, ready to flow 
all abroad with a life-giving and resistless power. If we 

3 



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read aright the tokens, Progress is henceforth everywhere 
to be the order of the day. Every new victory of 
truth, is to be substantially a final victory. Each really 
forward step of struggling humanity, is to be a step from 
which there shall be no receding. We shall be told, 
perhaps, that we are over sanguine. It may seem, even 
to some Christians, that to entertain such views is to be 
borne away by a benevolent enthusiasm. But as the 
ground of the strong convictions now expressed, there 
are certain unquestionable facts, to which we will refer. 

Before alluding to these, however, it is proper to remark, 
that in what it is proposed to say in illustration of this 
part of the subject, we shall have reference chiefly to the 
nations of Christendom, and more particularly to those 
of Europe. The nations of Western Europe, as the seats 
of the highest Civilizations both of ancient and moderm 
times, as the first political powers which now exist, 
and as the chief fountains, for the present, of literature 
and thought, must be expected to lead off in the grand 
march of humanity towards a final disenthrallmeat.^ The 
signs of that event must of course be expected to be there 
first unequivocally manifesit. The complete moral regene- 
ration of Christendonj, rnust ii^evitably bring with it, or 
speedily draw after it, the renovation of the world. 

But to proceed now to the facts. To us, as behevers in 
the divine authority of tjje Bible and as Protestants, it is 
an undoubted fact, that Evangelical Trutlji, %e simple, 
pure and vital truth whiclj lies on the face of the fjoly 
Scriptures, will, with the divine blessing, infallibly ptvrify 
and save the world, if ferpv^ljit jjjt.9 actual cont?^t with 



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the minds of men. We well know that individual man 
needs nothing but this, received into his understanding 
and his heart, to elevate and bless him. He is a con- 
scious sinner. The Bible tells him that through the bleed- 
ing Lamb of God, he may have free pardon. He is a 
child of sorrow. The Bible tells him, that in Christ 
Jesus, God will be his Father and Comforter. Sin has 
debased his whole nature ; and rendered his aims selfish 
and his wishes groveling. The Bible breathes around him 
the divine spirit of benevolence ; and at the same time it 
leads him into the noblest the most inspiring fields of 
thought, and presents to his contemplation the purest 
and grandest objects in the universe. We understand 
equally well, that Society needs nothing but the Bible to 
perfect both its spirit and its organization. " Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself." There is the fundamental 
doctrine of equality. " Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." There 
is a Bill of Rights in comparison with which that of 
King John is but a trifle ; it is the Magna Charta granted 
by God himself for the benefit of all men. We know, in 
short, that wherever the Bible goes, men are taught their 
true relations and their duties ; what their capabilities are 
and what are the proper ends of their existence. Let 
them learn these things aright, and they will rise in 
conscious power, to think and to act with manly freedom ; 
and they will assail the abuses and oppressions which 
have borne them down, till the last vestige of them shall 
be swept away. 

It is a second noticeable fact, that every requisite 



20 

agency is now in readiness, for the speedy and universal 
dissemination of Evangelical Truth. It is a circumstance 
v^orthy to be considered, that the great organizations 
for the spread of the Holy Scriptures and other religious 
books, should have been brought into existence just as 
the time w^as coming when the work of printing them 
could be executed with the utmost rapidity and economy, 
and when the way was about to be opened for the easy 
introduction of them everywhere. Imagine the forma- 
tion of a Bible or a Tract Society in the days of Abe- 
lard or of Roger Bacon. How many copies can you 
conceive it to have issued annually ? By what means 
could it have escaped the strangling grasp of Rome ? 
Or, not to mention these things, where among the masses 
could intelligent readers have been found? With 
what sort of facilities could the business of distribution 
have been prosecuted ? But now the Bible Societies, 
quietly planted where no hostile power can arrest or even 
disturb their work, are issuing every day, eight or ten 
thousand copies of the Scriptures, pouring out as it were 
a mighty tide of light upon the world ; while kindred 
associations are also daily striking off some millions of 
pages of evangehcal matter to which may be added all 
that is published by private enterprize. Thrown into 
the great channels of intercommunication, these volumes 
in any numbers, can be placed at any point in a very 
few hours or days. Meanwhile all Christendom abounds 
with readers ; and Rome, although she dreads and hates 
the light as cordially as ever, no longer has the power to 
hinder its diffusion. Even Spain herself, has been for 



21 

some time open to a considerable extent to those who 
distribute the Word of God; and in that strong hold of 
Papal intolerance and bigotry, an earnest voice has of late 
been lifted up in favor of perfect religious toleration. It is 
but a few years since, that a diplomatic agent of Great 
Britain had his Bible taken from him on entering the 
Papal territory ; and in spite of all remonstrance was 
obliged to submit to the indignity. But during the late 
commotions, on the banks of the Tiber and between the 
Vatican and the Quirinal, the Holy Scriptures in the Ital- 
ian language have been issued from the press, and widely 
distributed among the people. By such agencies, not- 
withstanding all opposing influences, the truths of re- 
vealed religion are finding their way to the common 
mind in every part of Europe. The batteries wherewith 
to demohsh the entrenchments of the Prince of darkness, 
are well planted, and want only a vigorous working to 
lay open his secret chambers to the sun. 

A third fact is of equal interest and significance. It is 
this : that over a large part of Europe, humanity exhibits 
not a little of that pecuhar restlessness and longing which 
disposes to the reception of the Gospel, and which the 
Gospel alone can meet. This is a circumstance of which 
observation only can give the full impression. Pass 
through the cities and villages of France and Belgium, 
through Italy, Switzerland and Germany, and get a 
free expression of the profounder current of feeling which 
prevails among the middle and lower classes of society. 
It may be diflficult to unlock the heart. But when it can 
be done, it will very generally be found that there is a 



22 

deep inward dissatisfaction, a consciousness of want, a 
vehement yearning, often perhaps vague and scarce!)^ 
intelhgible to itself Men feel as respects themselves that 
they are not what they should be. They feel that society 
is not what it should be ; that religious institutions are 
not what they should be ; and that something higher and 
better than anything they know, must be possible, as the 
condition and the end of human life. They are tired of 
empirical experiments and political contrivances for the 
mending of the world ; and sometimes, at which we can 
not wonder after their many disappointments, are ready to 
despair of relief entirely. There are probably hundreds 
of thousands to be found in continental Europe, of whose 
present state of feelnig this is a sufficiently accurate des- 
cription.* ,^And what is this state of mind? When 
under the preaching of the Gospel we find an individual 
who is weary of himself, sick of the pleasures of the 
world, and pressed with a sense of his need of something 
better, what do we deem it, but a preparation of the heart 
by the Holy Ghost to receive the satisfying gift of God 1 

=^ The statements of Count Guicciardini as given in the letter of M. De 
Pressense to the New York Independent of July 17th, 1851, furnish a 
striking illustration of what is here said. " Seeds of Gospel truth were 
deposited in some minds by foreign Christians visiting Florence, But all 
on a sudden, under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, the profoundest 
religious wants were developed and religious interest excited. The hand 
of the Lord alone hath done it, and it hath acted in its sovereignty. Those 
who had a long time in vain endeavored to bring a single soul to the Lord, 
have suddenly seen numbers of Italians resorting to them hungering and 
thirsting for righteousness, inquiring for the Scriptures and reading them 
with delight. M. Guicciardini counts at Florence already more than two 
thousand persons who in various degrees are under the influence of the 
Gospel, some slill seeking it, others having already found it. The movo- 
n cut spreads equally in the country." — Dc Pressense^s Letter. 



23 

And why is it not to be deemed the same wherever found ? 
Certain it is, that many who have been met in this frame 
of mind by Evangehsts and Colporteurs, have gladly and 
.savingly received the Word of God. The truth must 
win its way, even among blind and deluded Romanists, 
when the^^ perceive that it brings them just the rest for 
which their hearts have long been aching. The famish- 
ing will eat if you give them bread. They will drink 
when you make the living waters to gush forth at their 
feet. Ev^en ignorance and superstition, are rarely able 
mtterly to destroy the moral instincts of the soul. 

Our fourth fact is, that in the administration of his 
Providence, God is now manifestly working with and for 
his Truth, in a most extraordinary manner. This is 
ivhat the Prophets plainly intimate should come to pass. 
It is what caught to have been expected, and is a rebuke 
to the unbelief of the Christian Church. It would seem 
hut natural tto anticipate that in going about to complete 
his work as .the Purifier of the world, the Lord Jesus 
Christ shomld bring the course of his Providence into 
harmonious aaad powerful cooperation with the influences 
•of his Word ; and that he should so direct the great 
imovements ©f society, as to cause it to be seen and felt, 
that Nations and Kings and Dynasties were all at his 
disposal. Tills he has done and is doing still. The es- 
tablishment ^f our own free institutions and the French 
Revolution wJiich soon followed, at the close of the last 
'Century, constituted the opening of the great struggle 
which now k waxing hot, for the Cardinal Rights of 
JMan. Next ^came the Man of Destiny, as he loved to 



24 

style himself : and he was the Man of Destiny in a far 
higher sense than it ever entered into his own head to 
dream. We confidently affirm, that Napoleon was one 
of the most efficient Missionaries that God has ever em- 
ployed in the work of the world's recovery. He knew 
not God indeed, and served him blindly and without 
design. But who first taught the people of Europe to 
think lightly of the sacredness of kings, and stripped 
away from royalty at once its divine right and its vene- 
rable associations? Napoleon, when he handled legiti- 
mate sovereigns as mere puppets, and raised to thrones 
men taken from the common people. Who effectually 
broke up the habits of thought which had come down 
from feudal ages,and to which the distinctions of hereditary 
nobility owed their chief power to command respect 1 
Napoleon, when in place of men whose only merit was 
an ancient and honorable title, he gathered around him, 
and raised to the highest posts of honor, those who had 
distinguished themselves by their individual talent. Who 
by the Public Works which he executed or projected, 
waked up the idea* of Progress in the general mind, and 
shamed the indolence and selfishness of the old regimes ? 
Napoleon ; and no wonder that as the people look on 
these, they still are impressed by the vastness of his views, 
and still feel the stirring impulses of his mighty mind. 
We are no admirers of the personal character of Napo- 
leon ; but it is impossible to observe the results of his 
career, and not greatly admire the wisdom of God as 
displayed in the ends which it used him to accomplish. 
Other important advances were made, some of them 



25 

peaceably as in England, after the downfall of the Empe- 
ror, and, before the opening of the year eighteen hundred 
forty eight. That most eventful year developed as much 
of incident and change as has ordinarily filled a Century. 
Where now is that proud King, who in violation of his 
coronation oath, perverted the Charter to the oppression 
of good men, and on the coast of Africa and in the Islands 
of the Sea opposed the cause of Christ and vexed his 
servants? Where now are the glories of the Tuileries 
and of St. Cloud ? The waves of popular tumult have 
engulphed the monarchy itself. The word of Christ is 
no longer bound in France.* How has it fared with Pius 
IX, the liberal Pope. He has found that the Papal in- 
fluence of ages, has done a work of degradation which 
it is now no easy matter to repair. With a courage to 
be commended, he attempted to drive the Chariot of Re- 
form ; but his arm proved too feeble to reign in the met- 
tled steeds, and so he leaped in terror from his seat, and 
they went dashing on, leaving the Holy Father prostrate 
by the wayside. The Inquisition has been emptied of 
its hapless prisoners, and its accursed implements of tor- 
ture exposed to the pubhc gaze ; and by a variety of 
means the subjects of the Papacy in the Eternal City 
itself, have been filled with abhorrence of priestly domi- 
nation. Austria and Prussia and the smaller German 
states, have been shaken as with the rocking of an earth- 

* One of the most hopeful indications for France, is an increasing 
demand for the Holy Scriptures among the people. It is stated on good 
authority, that the booksellers of Paris are now selling at the rate of 
from seven to eight thousand copies a year, in addition to what are dis- 
tributed by Bible Societies. 

4 



26 

quake ; and there is hardly a corner of the Continent, 
except where the iron hand of the Autocrat is felt, 
that has not been roused to the hope of better days. 
Never before has God so arisen to shake terribly the 
earth. 

No one can well predict precisely what is to be the 
future course of political events among the Powers of 
Europe. But we may be sure of this, that the cause of 
truth has already gained immensely by the recent move- 
ments ; and equally sure that to recede will be found im- 
possible. A true principle, once developed in the mind, 
can never be wrested from it. The power of excited 
thought is irresistible. Like the pent up fires of the vol- 
cano it will make to itself a way, or it will shatter the 
whole structure of society, and spread on every side the 
fragments of its firmest institutions. Sovereigns may 
learn little amid the storms of revolution ; but the people 
at least have learned some lessons not likely to be soon 
forgotten. The nations do not groan and travail in pain 
together and all for nothing. Whatever may be the 
immediate issues of the late convulsive throes, it will at 
length appear, we are persuaded, that the cleansing fan 
of the Purifier has been effectively at work. 

We add, as the last fact to be noticed, that there is an 
evident reviving of the life and power of Spiritual Piety in 
the Evangelical Churches of Christendom. That such 
is, really, the fact, will doubtless be generally conceded. 
It has been evinced by the increased frequency and power 
of special seasons of refreshing under the faithful preach- 
ing of the Gospel. It has appeared in the indications of 



27 

a deeper sense of obligation among Christians of all 
classes, to live and labor for the glory of Christ and the 
coming of his kingdom. It has been manifested in the 
encouragement and faith, the primitive zeal and self- 
devotion, which for the last few years have been exhi- 
bited by the feeble bands of disciples scattered here and 
there in Papal countries, at Paris, at Geneva, at various 
points beyond the Rhine and in the North of Europe, 
where there have been raised up living and powerful 
witnesses for the Truth as it is in Jesus. It has revealed 
itself in a growing utiity of spirit among all who have 
genuine faith in Christ. And it can not reasonably be 
doubted, that the great movements of the Church for the 
conversion of the entire world to Christ, have been at 
once the fruit of the quickening breath of the Holy Ghost, 
and the occasion of the bestowment of his gifts in richer 
measure. Is it not plain, my brethren, that great as the 
deficiencies still are, there is an increasing number who do 
glory in the Cross, and who can say with Paul, " For me 
to live is Christ." Is not the divine life, in its deeper and 
more spiritual experiences, coming to be more extensively 
and practically understood ? The nature of prayer, the 
necessity of prayer, the power of prayer, — are not far 
better views in respect to this whole subject, at least 
beginning to pervade the church ? And finally, are there 
not signs of a growing faith in the mission of the Divine 
Spirit, and larger expectations of such displays of his 
transforming grace as have never yet been witnessed ? 
As it is by the Church, as the human instrumentality, 
that Christ will carry forward his cleansing work, in the 



28 

world at large, such indications of a purifying process in 
the Church herself, is an omen whose significance can 
not be mistaken. We know that the powers of darkness 
will then tremble and recede, when bearing the Word of 
God, and led on by the Providence of God, the Church 
shall be seen advancing in the simpHcity of faith, in the • 
prevalence of prayer, and in the commanding beauty of 
true holiness. 

We ask now any candid person who beheves the Bible, 
to place before him the great facts to which we have 
alluded, in their just relations, and then to say, if there 
are not solid grounds for the belief that our blessed Lord 
is at this time entering on the final, the consummating 
stage of his work of love in the moral cleansing of the 
world. You will admit, my brethren, that there are im- 
pressive indications of such a manifestation of the Son of 
Man. You believe the truth of prophecy. You believe that 
Messiah's holy and happy kingdom is certainly to come ; 
and in its coming to fill and to transform the earth. Con- 
sider, then, that it passed its initiatory period many centu- 
ries ago ; and that the practical experiments connected 
with it which were necessary, have been tried and are 
tending fast to a conclusion ; and lastly, ponder the ad- 
mitted facts, that Evangehcal Truth, the Bible, in a word, 
is God's appointed means for the purification of the 
world ; that the agencies for its universal dissemination 
are now ready ; that the hearts of hundreds of thousands 
in Christendom, particularly among those who have been 
the victims of the Papacy, are deeply conscious of their 



29 

spiritual wants and so in a measure prepared to welcome 
it, that the Providence of God is almost working miracles 
among the nations for its advancement ; and lastly that 
the Holy Ghost is breathing on the Universal Church 
and warming it to vigorous life and action. In such a 
view of the whole subject, can you doubt, dare you doubt, 
that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is going 
forth at last in the glory of his own transforming power, 
to consume the chaff, and thoroughly to cleanse his floor. 

And what, my Christian brethren, — ^what is the bearing 
of this deeply interesting truth on our individual duty ? 
Is it not this : that it is the hand of Jesus Christ himself, 
that has laid out before us the work of thoroughly evan- 
gelizing Christendom ; and that it is his own voice that 
is calling all his friends to urge it on with unfaltering 
zeal. Ah yes. Christians ! The cry that comes to you 
from many of the strangers that are crowding to your 
shores ; that reaches you from Canada, from Mexico, 
and South America, from wretched Ireland, from France, 
Switzerland and Italy, in short, from every part of Eu- 
rope is the call of Christ the Purifier, summoning his 
people to cooperate with him in his last, his transforming 
work on earth. His fan is in his hand! He is sepa- 
rating the precious from the vile. This is a sufficient 
explanation of the terrible convulsions that of late have 
rent the nations. It is he, that has marshaled the forces 
and set in order the battle, partly of physical and partly 
of moral power, that now is well begun. We can not 
understand it. We see the mustered hosts sweeping now 



30 

this way and now that. The combatants are marching 
and counter marching, and are often so obscured by the 
smoke and dust of the encounter, and so mingled in the 
great melee, that to our hmited observation, all is confu- 
sion and uncertainty. But not so to Christ. To his eye 
all is clear. He is directing every movement. He 
comprehends the whole affair. There is to him no such 
distinction as we make between the religious and the po- 
litical. All that is going forward in the struggles of the 
civihzed world is religious, in his view; that is to say, 
all stands alike related to the advancement of his King- 
dom. When he shall say to the conflicting forces. 
Peace ^ he still! — the tumillt of the people will die into a 
calm ; and then it will be more clearly seen for what the 
battle has been fought* It will appear that all this agita- 
tion and overturning is but the breaking open of the way, 
that his servants may go forth everywhere and scatter 
the good seed of the kingdom. 

It is true, as we are well aware, that there are darker 
views than those which we have taken of the present 
state of the nominally Christian world. We presume 
there are those who still look forward only with sad fore- 
boding ; who have no eyes to see the signs of promise 
which are offered for the encouragement of Christian 
faith and effort; and who even despair of the power 
of Christianity itself, as a spiritual system, to hold on 
its way to a universal triumph. It will be suggested 
that there is yet great strength in the Papal system, that 
Infidelity is still furiously rampant, and that there is 
great imperfection in the Church. We admit the facts. 



31 

But then we ask, what of them '( Have we affirmed that 
this last contest between vital Truth and deadly Error, is 
going to be a trifling skirmish ? Or that we imagine it will 
very soon be over ? We entertain no such opinion. We 
doubt not that the resistance will be desperate beyond all 
precedent ; and the more because the event of the struggle 
must obviously be decisive. But on the other hand, we 
are sure that the onset is going to be such as no past age 
has witnessed. The reigning Potentates of Europe may 
still retain their crowns, perhaps it is best they should ; 
to bring back the days of Absolutism, however, will be 
utterly beyond their power. The unhappy Pope may 
yet wear his tiara for a while ; by the aid of others, we 
presume he will. But with what opiate can he put to 
sleep again the roused up spirit of the Italian people, or 
quench their burning irrepressible desires for freedom. 
With what form of conjuration will he exorcise the evil 
spirits which, in the shape of Bibles, books and tracts, 
have taken possession of the Patrimony of St. Peter ? 
Not even another Hildebrand could restore to the Roman 
See its lost dominion over mind. And as to Infidelity, 
routed as she has been everywhere in argument, repudi- 
ated as she is and must be by the moral instincts of the 
soul, she can have no new victories to gain in a general 
conflict with the Gospel. She is doomed to be consumed 
among the chaff.* 

* The signal failure of Infidelity to find any tenable ground on which 
to contend in argument against Divine Revelation, does not indeed prevent 
the prevalence of avast amount of practical unbelief. But the scepticism 
v^'hich has so extensively pervaded France and other parts of Western 



32 

Yes ! carry directly to the heart of Christendom the 
simple, saving truths of the New Testament, and nothing 
more is needed. And this is the work which Christ is bid- 
ding us to do without delay. We rejoice in what is doing 
to send life to the heathen nations ; but we know that 
we are effectually helping on the conversion of the 
Pagan world to Christ, while we are laboring to take up 
the stumbling blocks of nominal Christianity. The hand 
of God has wonderfully guided this Evangelizing move- 
ment from the first, and never so clearly as at present, 
could the wisdom of his purpose in its origin and progress 
be discovered. The good which has been done already 
is, we are satisfied, but small, in comparison with 
what, by the divine blessing, it is about to do, in this 
great juncture for which especially it seems to have 
been raised up. It has already cheered, by its efficient 
cooperation, the faithful servants of God to whom it has 
borne the timely aid, along with the sympathy and 
prayers, of American Christians. It has made its influ- 
ence felt in various ways in almost every part of Europe. 
In doing this, it has won the confidence of the friends 
of Christ both at home and abroad, and gained the most 
valuable kinds of information and experience. Now 
then, the organization is all ready for the larger and 
more vigorous operations which the times demand, if 



Europe, must yield and will yield under the direct and faithful application 
of Evangelical TrutVi. As it has its seat chiefly in the heart, and is nour- 
ished by ignorance and false views of Christianity, there is nothing to 
prevent its complete removal by the clear presentation of the Gospel in 
its divine simplicity. 



33 

those to whom it looks for its recourses, will place at its 
disposal the necessary means. 

And shall we, fellow disciples, fail to do this? Shall 
we be wanting in our duty now? Shall we see our 
Saviour going forth to cleanse the deep pollutions of the 
world, and not promptly rally round him, all ready to 
do whatever he shall indicate. Oh! if our souls have 
ever felt the power of dying love, if we have wept and 
been forgiven at the Cross of our adorable Redeemer, 
if we are jealous for his honor and longing to see the 
world which he has ransomed, bowing in homage at his 
feet : now — now is the time to manifest our devotion to 
his cause ! 

Never, certainly, was there so much as now to stir 
the hearts of the friends of truth. Never had they so 
much to rouse their courage and inspire their hopes. 
There was an astonishing waking up of mind in the 
sixteenth century ; but it was as nothing to the rushing 
activity which marks the present day. The voice of Lu- 
ther was a glorious voice ; and effectually did it scare 
the dreaming owls of the spiritual Babylon, and set them 
in commotion. But believe it, my brethren, it is not 
mere human utterances that now are startling Christen- 
dom. The voice of the Reformation was but the bugle 
blast that aroused the sleeping forces. The sounds w^hich in 
this our era are coming up from every side and at which 
the mighty tremble, are the deep thunders of God's own 
artillery ! The matchless pen of Calvin told on the mind 
of Europe with wonderful effect, and was justly terrible 
to the enemies of truth. But the agency which to day is 

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34 

bearing on the cause of liberty and truth and hohness is 
the putting forth the arm of Eternal Strength ! Who 
can doubt that wonderful transformations are speedily 
to surprise the world ? 

Brethren ! let us understand the crisis. Christendom 
waits for the living word. Christ bids us give it promptly. 
Let us do it. Faith in the power of truth, faith in the 
Holy Ghost, faith in the Son of God ; and a holy earnest- 
ness and energy in duty ; these are what we want. 
With these we shall see the Saviour's Kingdom rise. 
We may not hope indeed to linger here, till the joyous 
anthem that celebrates its final triumphs shall go up from 
all the earth. But we shall hear the tidings in the world 
of light. Then we shall know, as now we can not fully, 
the meaning of that thrilling saying of the Prophet, 
" They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
firmament, and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness AS THE STARS FOREVER AND EVER ! " 

May God grant it, in the riches of his mercy, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 819 569 i 



Hollinger Corp. 
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